Just pre-ordered the Spray and Rager figures. $15 shipped each is just too good, even if it turns out they are smaller than the G1 figures. The price for Not-Ratchet and Not-Ironhide are just a bit too much. I would have been fine with $80 each, maybe $90 given the number of accessories (FP managed to get their Not-Springer out for $80, including a fair amount of diecast in the toy). I'm hoping iGear will drop the price a bit at some point and then give me a reason to have to make a tough decision on which ONE I order.

Further pics of the Exgraver toy just make me glad I'm not going that route. Maketoy's Devastator looks nicer IMO anyway, regardless of size. Either way, I'd have to sell off a bunch of shit just to be able to afford these.

I can't see what people are complaining about with this proposed toy. It looks like Sixshot. It looks like a modern interpretation of the original, while being fairly faithful. Possibly being even more G1-ish than most of these non-Hasbro "Classics" toys that are coming out. What's the real complaint here?

Well, for me personally, I look at it this way: there are a LOT of not-TFs coming out these days that sorta emulate the modern Classics style. And, of course, the point of the Classics style is to improve upon the original toys' look in both modes, add articulation, add some nods to the animation designs, etc.

Again: "improve upon"...while following this new aesthetic already established by Hasbro. In most cases, these companies have succeeded: Fansproject's not-Springer *looks* like an official Classics, and from that point of view, it improves on the original toy.

This new not-Sixshot looks kinda crummy to me. It does NOT improve upon the original. I'd love a proper Classics-style Sixshot (by Hasbro or any not-Hasbro's)...but this ain't it.

Well, then you've got my general view of the not-Classics that I have. Usually, though, the general complaint is that these toys aren't G1 enough. Here you have an example of something being made to that standard, but it's not getting any love. I guess you can't please everyone. I have no interest in the character myself, so I surely won't be buying one. I'd rather attempt to scrape together the scratch to go with one of the iGear Ratchet/Ironhides.

Articulation - Loads of articulation. More than you really need. Everything is very tight (though one of the hips on mine is loose. no biggie.)

Transformation - Also very tight. Everything stays where it should. Though simple, it does the job. Also has a neat geared foot transformation. Flipping down one side auto TFs the other.

Robot Design - Very modern G1 with a dash of Galaxy Force

Big ass robot arm mode - Very big. Very cool.

Cons:
Vehicle Mode - Pretty lame. It serves the purpose of being a back-hoe but its not much more than a block with a shovel.

Shovel - The shovel has three sets of working pistons. Though the base of the arm is so tight I don't want to risk breaking it trying to move it. So really. Two sets of pistons.

Floaty vehicle cab - Part of the transformation has you dealing with a removable cab. You can peg it just about anywhere on the figure but it would've been nice to have it integrated with the transformation.

Price - Personally I think this is the weakest of the Hercules figures we've seen, so the 100$ mark is a bit too much. Though after getting all of them, it might be worth the investment.

Overall I think it's a very ambitious piece. TFC played it very safe when making this thing. Expect more risks from the upcoming figures (and their planned not-predacon set). This isn't really a make or break figure. If you buy it because you like what you see, then you'll be happy with what you receive.

fujikuro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...Usually, though, the
> general complaint is that these toys aren't G1
> enough. Here you have an example of something
> being made to that standard, but it's not getting
> any love.

Hmmm...I think my main beef with this particular not-Transformer is that it's just a tough choice of character to update. Like, as a robot, G1 Sixshot looks awesomely big and blocky. In his other modes, he again looks like a big, blocky meatball. All around, a charming toy.

Not-Sixshot has the same effect as the G1 in the various alt modes: similarly awkward, amorphous meatballs. So those modes are kind of a wash. But the robot mode does is really where it fails for me...based on just the silhouette, anyway--who knows: my opinion may change after seeing full color pics (but I doubt it). It's more than that they just added spiky bits...it just...doesn't *look good* to me. The proportions look a bit too much like a generic modern Japanese mecha, while most of the Classics toys (Hasbro AND not-Hasbro) robot modes still look beefy, balanced, and, well, good.

So, yeah, I guess the standard is sorta upheld...but the execution is meh. And with a character as weird as Sixshot, the margin for error is really low.

Nice to hear that it's a well-made toy. It looks like a toy, rather than an adult collectible, despite the price. Glad to hear it seems like it should hold up like one.

> Price - Personally I think this is the weakest of
> the Hercules figures we've seen, so the 100$ mark
> is a bit too much. Though after getting all of
> them, it might be worth the investment.

Again, wish this was $70-80. I would have definitely gone for it then.

>
> Overall I think it's a very ambitious piece. TFC
> played it very safe when making this thing. Expect
> more risks from the upcoming figures (and their
> planned not-predacon set). This isn't really a
> make or break figure. If you buy it because you
> like what you see, then you'll be happy with what
> you receive.

It's great to read such an honest review. I kinda like Exgraver, but I like this guy a lot more:

and see the pegs at the bottom of the legs. Does it seem to you that these are the same peg and hole size as the recent combiner teams'? For example, the ones that Fansproject used for their Bruticus add-ons? It's very similar in appearance at least.

Eh, I bit the bullet. Robotkingdom's price is a bit better than BBTS or TFsource, so I'm saving about $17 overall. I'm sure shipping will be somewhat slow, but whatever. All the reviews so far say nice solid construction, very stable, and pretty fun nice TOY. I get a lot of TF figures, and many of them aren't much fun, but I'm willing to take the risk on it if it's something I'll fiddle with a lot.

By all accounts, Exgraver's looking pretty tight. Must admit, I'm feeling tempted. The only thing that sorta worries me is that one reviewer on youtube found a missing part on his. That would make me want to order from someplace like BBTS because even if their prices are quite a bit higher, they probably offer the best service...

Also, Thundershred's out...anyone get that? Much like a lot of nicer Classics-style TFs and not-TFs, it looks pretty great. But then again, there are a TON of nice Classics-style TFs and not-TFs...so I'm kinda inclined to pick up ones with more functionality (like not-Devastator).

Sanjeev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By all accounts, Exgraver's looking pretty tight.
> Must admit, I'm feeling tempted. The only thing
> that sorta worries me is that one reviewer on
> youtube found a missing part on his. That would
> make me want to order from someplace like BBTS
> because even if their prices are quite a bit
> higher, they probably offer the best service...

Yeah, that's a bit risky I suppose. Hopefully things work out OK for me. TFSource have been VERY good in this respect for me when things haven't been right. I ordered the Perfect Effect Frumble two-pack from them because my experience with the PE toys has been that they are very nice, but have a tendency towards some QC issues.

>
> Also, Thundershred's out...anyone get that? Much
> like a lot of nicer Classics-style TFs and
> not-TFs, it looks pretty great. But then again,
> there are a TON of nice Classics-style TFs and
> not-TFs...so I'm kinda inclined to pick up ones
> with more functionality (like not-Devastator).

I have Thundershred on its way from BBTS, but they took forever in shipping him out. About three days to finally notify me of shipping. I realize that with Exgraver and Thundershred coming out at the same time, they probably were swamped, but that's still pretty damn slow shipping.

I'm never in a hurry, so I don't mind if stores take a while to ship. Anyway, even if there's a problem with your Exgraver, Robotkingdom *ought* to be good to deal with: I had the gnashing teeth on my "Welcome to 2010" Unicron and they gave me a partial refund on it after I complained (since they couldn't get replacement parts from Takara). You may be safer with BBTS, but RK's not a bad option.

Sanjeev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm never in a hurry, so I don't mind if stores
> take a while to ship. Anyway, even if there's a
> problem with your Exgraver, Robotkingdom *ought*
> to be good to deal with: I had the gnashing teeth
> on my "Welcome to 2010" Unicron and they gave me a
> partial refund on it after I complained (since
> they couldn't get replacement parts from Takara).
> You may be safer with BBTS, but RK's not a bad
> option.

This is not to say anything bad about BBTS normally. They've been very good to me over the years when something isn't right. Still, I wanted this stuff so that I could let the kids play with it over the weekend.

Just received my Thundershred today, but given that there are a number of reviews already out there via Youtube, I won't go into tons of detail about the transformation here. Just some initial thoughts:

The plastic is still high quality but seems like a different substance from, say, their Not-Swindle. That previous toy had a bit of a mildly grainy/waxy texture to the plastic where as this toy seems like plain old ABS. The claws and legs are of a more flexible, but still pretty stiff stuff. Again, very solid construction.

All joints seem solid and are, in many cases, fairly tight. He has a sort of backpack that becomes the "cab" in ALT mode, and this is on a somewhat loose balljoint. Other than that, I've not found anything that feels floppy at all.

Accessories are not really present as all parts are used in the bot and ALT modes, just in varying ways. The claws are able to separate in the middle, and be placed on his wrist guards as either long or short claws. There is a center "hub"
for the claws when in shuriken mode. This part allows Thundershred to hold the shuriken, whether configured with long or short blades (same blades as the claws).

Transformation is a bit involved. Lots of foldy bits here and there. Arms go into the bottoms of the legs when in ALT mode. All parts can be stored in ALT mode as well, including the hub of the shuriken, though it's not mentioned in the transformation instructions. Also not mentioned is the fact that the hip joints need to be shifted backward to allow for the shoulders to fold down. If you're at all experienced with Transformers you'll have figured this out on your own, but it ought to have been in the instructions.

A question that comes up a lot is whether the wrists turn, and they do not. However, the entire forearm swivels at the elbow where there is a ball joint, so you can have that portion of the arm rotated however you like.

One thing that I have not seen in any review yet (I've only watched a couple) is that, yes, Thundershred's claws can be positioned on his back to replicate Shrapnel's shoulder-mounted mandibles. Here's a comparison:

I like the toy a lot, and generally think it's a very good release. A few small problems that I have with the actual execution of the toy involve not being totally happy with the Zoids-esque cab, wishing (of course) that the yellow chest was transparent yellow, and that the claws were chromed. I do wish they had dispensed with the elemental symbols, as replacing these with Reprolabel Decepticon symbols will be a bit difficult, unless they come out with a special set for these. One could use some solvent to remove the symbols I suppose. I managed to get a symbol on (as you can see above), but it's not perfect.

The main complaint I have is that the toy NEEDS a gun to be a real Shrapnel update. Unfortunately, standard peg-size guns do NOT fit into Thundershred's hands. This is very surprising, as it looks as if they should. One can hope that an add-on weapons kit arrives later. There are tons of points on this toy where extras could get added if the extras became available later.

Altogether it's quite nice. and I do highly recommend it if you can get past the very few nit-picky flaws.

I don't particularly like it...BUT I do appreciate that it's far more G1-like than Fansproject's toy. I mean, I respect the Fansproject City Commander, but they took too many liberties for me to get really into it. Looked a bit too "space-age" for me. This thing looks more like a simple G1 update with added articulation and whatnot. A laudable goal, but yeah...the execution is meh...

The arms and head aren't so great. The upper body isn't bad, the legs seem like a rip-off from city commander. Given that these guys deal in making counterfeit toys I'm surprised that more elements haven't been borrowed from other designs.

The expectation of 3rd-party head/gun kits for all three of these is the only reason I ordered them, stupidly chunky proportions notwithstanding. If no mod kits get released, I'll likely be selling them.

As for UM, I'm with Sanjeev. Fansproject's didn't feel right to me (it looked cool, but not nostalgic enough). Given how goofily proportioned the G1 UM was, I'm not sure I'd be that happy with a heroically proportioned UM anyway. This one doesn't look that bad to me. Plus, if we're going to talk about odd proportions, the legs/arms on FP's UM seem practically tumoral in their size relative to the body.

Also picked up FP's Munitioner/Explorer recently, and yeah, Swindle's alt mode ain't accurate, but damned if it isn't one of the best (most playable, most accurate bot mode) TF toys of that scale, or any scale, I've handled. And the Humvee is so well sculpted I don't even mind that it's not a Jeep. It's ridiculous how much better FP's Swindle is, in terms of design/engineering/QC, than most of what comes out of HasTak.

VF5SS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> it should look like this

Absolutely! Though UM could use a sandwich...he needs more badonk in his booty!

Anyway, uh, I may as well throw this question out there: does anyone know a cheap/simply way to vac-metallize or otherwise "chrome" small plastic parts? 'Cause, y'know, I'm a veritable GOD at CAD...and Shapeways--for all their bullshit--are pretty fucking cheap for small items...

Put two and two together, fellas...

My prototyper sent me this link a while back. They got this system and I've seen some of the results--fucking INTENSE. From what I gather, though, it's kinda pricey. Any other alternatives anyone can think of?

Actually, Sanjeev, I had thought of contacting you about this idea. I figured I could draw up a couple gun designs and see if you'd be able to CAD them up. Though I can't imagine it would be at all reasonable for them to be chromed. As it is, as long as they came close to matching the toys they belonged with, I'd be happy.

> The expectation of 3rd-party head/gun kits for all
> three of these is the only reason I ordered them,
> stupidly chunky proportions notwithstanding. If no
> mod kits get released, I'll likely be selling
> them.

FP's own targetmaster Sidearm's Hot Rod-sized handle works for Thundershred's hands. It's not great, but it works. Just wish they had found a way to make the hands a tad bigger to allow for standard sized pegs. I wonder if this is one of those things that will get "fixed" for future releases?

> Also picked up FP's Munitioner/Explorer recently,
> and yeah, Swindle's alt mode ain't accurate, but
> damned if it isn't one of the best (most playable,
> most accurate bot mode) TF toys of that scale, or
> any scale, I've handled. And the Humvee is so well
> sculpted I don't even mind that it's not a Jeep.
> It's ridiculous how much better FP's Swindle is,
> in terms of design/engineering/QC, than most of
> what comes out of HasTak.

It's a gem of a toy. It might be the very best thing that FP has done so far.